Review by Dan Skip Allen Halloween is the spooky season of the year. All the studios like to put their scary movies out and get as high ratings or viewership as possible for them. The same goes for alien films, which often exist in a subgenre of horror. Hulu has a new alien film out this week called No One Will Save You, starring big-name young actress Kaitlyn Dever. The film focuses on a young woman living alone in her childhood home, where she seems happy. She listens to classic tunes from yesteryear while cooking, and does not have a care in the world Until she is awoken in the middle of the night by a noise coming from downstairs. She starts to investigate when she notices a figure walking around rummaging through things. When she hears a strange noise, she tries to backtrack to her bedroom, but the stairs creak and she has been noticed by some sort of creature. A creature with feet that look like fingers. Her instinct to survive kicks in, so she decides to try and fight off the alien creature. Brian Duffield, who wrote Love & Monsters, is also the director of this movie. He creates an atmospheric setting for this story. It's about a girl with a hidden past, but she's trying to move on from it. The aliens in the film do things to her that bring back these latent memories from the past. In flashbacks, we the viewer learn about her and her past experiences in this small town. Duffield uses various forms of moody, dark, and scary situations to create the look and feel of the movie. As a film with mainly one character, he puts her into an Invasion of the Body Snatchers scenario, where she thinks she's going crazy, but she's not. It's the whole situation that brings on the paranoia she is experiencing. There is also a claustrophobic feel to the film, which is creepy, to say the least Kaitlyn Dever is a young actress who starred in sitcoms, like Last Man Standing, and graduated to dramas like Justified in her career. She's eventually branched out to movies, but she has always returned to television/streaming. Her roles in Dopesick and Unbelievable have garnered her a lot of critical acclaim. No One Will Save You is the latest thing she'll get a lot of love for. It allows her to stretch her acting abilities beyond what we have previously seen. Not having anybody to act the opposite isn't easy. She creates genuine dread with the whole scenario she's involved in. She has blossomed into a great actress.
Filmmakers more often than not lack the ability to do subtle storytelling. Duffield seems to be a master at it, though. He uses the fact that this character is all alone as a strength. Having the house lose power and showing dark clouds with lightning is pretty foreboding for the main character. She feels helpless in this world she lives in. One thing after another gets in her way, and it's quite overwhelming. We as viewers feel for her. That's how you tell a good story and film it for people to watch. There have been many alien abduction films that have captured the public consciousness. War of the Worlds, the various versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Day the Earth Stood Still are some that captured the perfect blend of sci-fi and horror. You can add No One Will Save You to that list. Duffield and Dever give the audience watching genuine scares while creating a sci-fi world I haven't seen before. There are others that have stood the test of time, but none have been done quite like this one. No One Will Save You is a one-of-a-kind alien invasion/abduction film. Duffield puts the viewer in the shows of this young woman portrayed by Devers. We feel and see everything she's going through because it's a single person story. She's on her own with… well… no one to save her, hence the title. Devers has become a great young actress, and she proves how good she is in this role. The moody atmospheric nature of the movie plays perfectly into the whole vibe the filmmaker is going for. This is going to be a big hit this Halloween season. No One Will Save You is now streaming on Hulu. Rating: 4.5/5
1 Comment
Konnie Semonski
9/22/2023 05:57:48 pm
Thank you - great review.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
July 2024
Authors
All
|